Having regard to the announcement by the Russian electricity transmission system operator to conduct an isolated operation test of the Russian electrical grid in Kaliningrad region from 24 May to 26 May 2019, Baltic Electricity Transmission System Operators AS “Augstprieguma tīkls” (Latvia), “Elering” (Estonia) and “Litgrid” (Lithuania) have agreed to postpone the isolated operation test of the Baltic Power System, which was previously scheduled for 8 June with the alternative date of 29 June.

The procedure of the Baltic states’ isolated operation test will be decided upon the evaluation of the results of the test of the Kaliningrad electricity network. As is known, the Baltic states are currently operating in a synchronous zone with the Russian and Belarusian electrical grids and the Kaliningrad region of Russia is connected to them via Lithuania.

During the isolated operation of the Baltic states, it was planned to disconnect from the Russian and Belarusian power systems, thus the electrical energy demand would only be provided by local generation and direct current interconnections with Sweden, Finland and Poland and the frequency and balance of the electricity would have to be provided by the Baltic states themselves.

The isolated operation test is a step towards the planned synchronisation of electricity grids with Europe in 2025. During the test, the Baltic states will switch off from the Russian and Belarusian power systems for 12 hours to test the ability of equipment and the personnel to operate without support from these countries.

The previous isolated operation test was carried out in April 2002, when the Baltic and Belarusian networks, together with the Kaliningrad region, were separated from the Russian electric grid. In turn, Estonia has separated parts of its network from neighbouring countries in November 2006 and April 2009.